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Secondary sourceDocument12th–14th century

Black Book of Peterborough

12th–14th century

A medieval cartulary from Peterborough Abbey containing a copy of Magna Carta's text, showing how monasteries preserved the charter.

This monastic copy shows how Magna Carta's text was preserved and valued by religious institutions in the centuries after 1215.

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An open medieval manuscript book in a dark wooden binding, displayed in a glass case on a blue surface. Its yellowed vellum pages are densely covered in handwritten black ink script, with some red initials visible.
Black Book of Peterborough, 12th–14th century. Society of Antiquaries of London.

About this source

What it is

The Black Book of Peterborough is a monastic cartulary, a manuscript volume of copied documents, that belonged to Peterborough Abbey and was compiled between the 12th and 14th centuries. It is open at the page copying the 'charter of Runnymede', better known as Magna Carta. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538, the Abbey's lands passed to the Cecil family, and the book eventually came into their possession. It was later given to the Society of Antiquaries of London, where it is now held.

Why it matters

This manuscript shows that Magna Carta was not just a single royal document but a text that institutions like abbeys felt important enough to copy and keep among their own records. Its path through the Cecil family also shows how medieval monastic property and documents were redistributed after the Reformation.

Look closer

  • Why might a monastery want its own copy of Magna Carta?
  • What does the book's later ownership by a noble family tell us about how documents survived or were lost?
  • What is missing from this page that the original 1215 charter might have included?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Magna Carta on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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